


Find me

by Phantomxlegend



Series: Percy Jackson one-shots :p [135]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Crying, Death, Descriptions of Blood, Hurt Will, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Mourning, Nico angst, Whump, hurt and no comfort, this hurts me in more ways than you can imagine, this takes place right before the dark prophecy, will solace angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27972527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantomxlegend/pseuds/Phantomxlegend
Summary: There’s something that calls to him from the woods, he’s scared of it and he doesn’t understand it.  But he goes anyway.—What if Will ended up in the woods before the dark prophecy?
Relationships: Kayla Knowles & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: Percy Jackson one-shots :p [135]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701808
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	Find me

**Author's Note:**

> WHY AM I LIKE THIS??? WHY DID I WRITE THIS?? 
> 
> hhshgdhrtehhgggsghwrhgjh It’s 1:30 am, I’m sobbing. I have to get up at 8 am,,,,
> 
> Descriptions of blood and gore but not very heavily. This is also right before the dark prophecy in canon but yknow I literally just threw canon out the window for pain and only pain.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Will, seriously, I’m okay, I can take care of myself,” Nico pushed Will’s hand off of his arm. Furrowing his eyebrows at the son of Apollo.

“I know you can, Nico,” Will spread his hands in a placating gesture, he furrowed his eyebrows, “I just worry about you. I don’t want you to get yourself into some serious trouble and end up getting yourself hurt.”

“Then just don’t worry about that,” Nico brushed his hair out of his face, the effects of a few shadows jumps in a row starting to catch up with him. Will was still looking at him with a concerned expression which was starting to make Nico’s annoyance grow.

“I am going to worry about you, as your doctor and as your boyfriend,” Will tilted his head to the side, “I’ve had a bad feeling lately and I really don’t want something to happen.”

Nico knew that usually, those ‘bad feelings’ were something important and something that should be listened to, “yes, I am aware. But you can’t lock me up and prevent me from doing anything, especially when hades calls.”

Will shrunk back a few feet, “I know… I just…” he shook his head slowly, “nevermind, it’s not important. You should take a shower and get some rest. If you use up too much of your powers—“

“I know, I was planning on doing those things before you stopped me.”

Will furrowed his eyebrows, he sighed, “okay, you’ll come help me with my shift tonight, right? It’ll be lonely if it’s just me by myself.”

“Yeah, I always come by,” Nico scrubbed at his face and sighed.

“Okay,” Will smiled shyly, “I think I have a music lesson to get to, but I’ll see you later! Love you.”

Nico mumbled back a tired “love you too” that he wasn’t even sure that Will heard before he stalked off to his cabin to change out of his sweaty clothes and maybe to get cleaned up. Going to the underworld was always a draining endeavor.

Being around the souls of the dead for long periods of time also was a good way to tamper with Nico’s attitude. 

Maybe he was a little snappy with Will, he’d apologize for it tonight when Nico helped Will with his shift.

* * *

  
Will was fidgety all throughout dinner, he kept squirming in his seat and glancing past the rows of tables at something in the distance.

Kayla elbowed him in the side, “what is your problem today? You’ve been super squirrelly all day.”

Will nearly choked on his food, “sorry, doesn’t anything feel wrong to you? Like I’ve had this off feeling for a while now and I don’t know why,” he tilted his head to look at Nico, silently begging for his help.

“I haven’t felt anything,” Kayla furrowed her eyebrows, “are you feeling alright?”

Will flinched when she put a hand to his forehead. He laughed awkwardly when she gave him an odd look.

“Maybe after dinner, I’ll go take a quick walk,” Will scooted a few inches away from his sister, “that’ll help my nerves.”

Nico raised one eyebrow, “do you want me to come with?”

Will didn’t say anything for a while, he stared past the dining pavilion at the woods. His hands trembled slightly.

“No, I think I need a bit of time alone,” he quickly said, seeming to remember that Nico had asked a question, he smiled nervously and chuckled, patting Nico on the arm. Nico clenched his jaw. He tried to think about why Will was acting so weird.

“Okay bro, make sure to be back before curfew,” Kayla shrugged, glancing over Will’s appearance. Nico didn’t think that he looked sick but the tension in his muscles and the way he kept fidgeting made him think that there was something wrong.

If he made a scene about it now, Will would certainly find a way to lie his way out of it and not talk about it again, so Nico’s only choice was to wait and see if he could find out.

* * *

It turned out that Nico didn’t even need to bring it up, because after dinner Will quickly pulled him aside. Before Nico even had the chance to ask him what was wrong Will spilled into a rant.

“I need to tell you this quickly just so I have someone that knows because it’s been driving me insane for the past few days,” Will started, he put his hands on Nico’s shoulders, “have you like… heard weird noises from the woods for the past few days? Like after everything that’s been happening, after the war and stuff it’s like there’s been rustling in the woods. I can’t figure out what it is and I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“You know there’s a lot of things in the woods… right, it’s probably just an animal,” Nico said calmly, “or a nymph, it’s nothing to worry about.”

Will opened his mouth to say something, he seemed to change his mind. He let go of Nico’s arms and took a step back, his expression contorting with thought.

“Yeah…” he licked his lips, then laughed, “I don’t know why I didn’t think about that. There’s tons of nymphs in the woods, they’re probably just messing around.”

He laughed again, rubbing his hands together, “sorry. I’ve been really on edge.”

“I’ve noticed…” 

“I’m gonna go take a walk by the beach, try and… try and clear my head.”

In the fading light, Will looked pale and sickly, he didn’t look at all like himself. It was more of a ghost of the boy from a few weeks ago even. Nico really wanted to try and figure out what exactly was wrong, but Will seemed determined.

“I’ll see you in the infirmary later then,” Nico squeezed Will’s hand. Will nodded.

“Yeah…” Will swallowed hard and pulled at the hem of his shirt, glancing over his shoulder.

After Will left in the direction of the beach, Nico figured that the best course of action would be to go to Kayla and maybe get her input on it. Worse comes to worst she could also try and talk to Will when he got back. 

* * *

  
Nico waited in the infirmary by himself. He had talked to Kayla after his conversation with Will, she told him that if he came by the cabin after his walk she would try and talk to him. But she told him to wait in the infirmary for Will to come back for his shift.

He was always on time for his shifts, he never was one to break routine or schedule. 

So, why was Nico alone in the infirmary? Awkwardly waiting by himself?

It was a little past 10 pm, Will’s shift was supposed to be at 10. Nico figured that maybe he had gotten caught up with something, or maybe he had ended up going to his cabin and Kayla was talking to him like she said he would.

A small feeling in the back of his mind said that that wasn’t the case. Something felt very wrong about all of this, about how Will was acting all day and especially at dinner. What he had said to Nico afterward. 

When Kayla entered the infirmary at around ten-thirty, Nico’s heart rate spiked.

“Is Will here with you?” She asked, her eyes darting around the infirmary, worry set in her expression.

“I thought that he had gone to your cabin?” Nico said slowly. He pushed himself to his feet.

“No…” Kayla shifted her weight from foot to foot, “I’m gonna go check down by the beach, maybe he got distracted. And I know that his watch doesn’t work anymore so he probably lost track of time.”

Nico had never noticed that Will wore a watch. Will had never mentioned one not working either.

But, Nico followed Kayla out of the infirmary. His hand stuffed in his pockets. He walked just behind Kayla, managing to step on the back of her heels a few times. She didn’t say anything about that.

When they got to the beach, to both of their dismay, it was empty. There weren’t even any fresh footprints in the sand. No signs that anyone had even been here since earlier in the day.

“Gods…” Kayla whispered, “I’m worried now.”

“I think he went into the woods,” Nico said, remembering what Will had told him earlier, “I think he went to check out whatever he had been hearing.”

“He’s so stupid,” Kayla hissed, “it’s dangerous to go into the woods at night, you don’t know what you can find in there. Especially without telling anyone.”

“Do we try and go after him?”

Kayla looked to the edge of the woods, the moon barely providing enough light to see inside the trees. Her shoulders were set tightly.

“No, he’ll be back in the morning,” she said with an odd sort of determination, “he’s always back by morning.”

Nico wondered if Will had done things similar to this before. Running out in the middle of the night to clear his head, only to return in the morning like nothing had happened. He didn’t have a chance to ask Kayla before she turned and stalked back towards the loop of cabins.

“Get some sleep Nico, no ones gonna be taking the shift in the infirmary tonight,” Kayla said over her shoulder. Nico nodded, hesitating on the beach for a bit longer.

Despite what Kayla had said, he returned to the infirmary. Waiting there for another half hour, just in case Will decided to come there. 

Once he realized that he was wasting his time, he turned all the lights off and returned to his cabin. Kicking his shoes into some corner by his nightstand, he’d find them in the morning.

Something about the darkness of his cabin was suffocating, his breaths seemed to echo.

Nico turned the bedside lamp on, staring up at the ceiling until exhaustion took over and dragged him into unconsciousness.

* * *

  
In his dream, he saw Will standing at the edge of the forest. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. His chest was puffed out and his chin up, like he was facing some tough bully, trying to stand up for himself.

Nico didn’t understand why he had that pose at the edge of the forest. There was something wrong about the way he carried himself at the moment.

Will said something that Nico couldn’t hear from where he was standing and plunged into the trees.

His dream shifted, Nico was inside the woods now, following Will as he pushed through branches that seemed to get thicker and thicker the longer that he walked. One hand was clenched against the side of his head as he used his other to move branches and leaves out of the way.

Nico heard the whispering now, the faint rustling that overlapped with each other enough that you couldn’t make out what was being said. Was this what Will was talking about? 

Will’s eyes were wide, sweat plastered his hair to the back of his neck. He covered both his ears now, breathing heavily.

Nico saw as he managed to push into a clearing, Will stumbled to his knees. Nico tried to reach out and help him but remembered that this was only a dream.

Why the hell was Will out here in the middle of the night?

“Who’s there?” Will called, his voice hoarse and shaking. He grit his teeth, pushing himself to his feet, his knees shaking. 

Nico saw a figure looming in the shadows just behind Will. A tall muscular figure. Will didn’t realize that they were there yet.

“Why can I hear you?” Will cried out, taking a step forward into the middle of the clearing. In front of him was a thick weave of trees, too thick for anyone to pass through. Will was left with no other choice but to go back the way he came.

Nico could still hear the whispers, they were stronger now than before.

The figure stepped out of the shadows, a sword in his hand, he grabbed Will’s shoulders.

* * *

Nico woke with a start, cursing any gods that he knew wouldn’t immediately strike him down for it. Why were demigod dreams like that?

There was a knock on his door, more urgently this time, that must’ve been what woke him up.

When Nico opened the door, Kayla was on the other side, rocking back and forth on her heels, shifting her weight from foot to foot. It didn’t look like she had gotten any sleep last night.

“Have you seen him?” She asked.

Nico knew who she was talking about right away. Unfortunately, he had a bad feeling about where Will was.

“I think I know where to find him,” Nico grabbed his sword and stormed past Kayla out the door, not waiting for her to get the hint to follow. She did, and on the way to the edge of the woods, he told her about his dream. Kayla didn’t say anything but kept pace with Nico.

No one stopped to ask the two where they were going, or why they were storming through camp towards the woods with such determination. Maybe Nico was intimidating enough looking that no one thought to try and bother them.

“What is wrong with him?” Kayla muttered, shaking her head, “why didn’t he say anything?”

It felt like someone had punched Nico in the gut. Will did try and say something last night. Nico didn’t believe him. So much stuff could’ve been avoided if he had listened to his boyfriend.

There was a path of broken branches and bushes that lead in one direction, Nico barely remembered from his dream seeing these paths. They were going in the right direction. Hopefully, the woods would take them where they needed to be instead of playing tricks on them.

The images from last night still flashed through Nico’s mind. How Will was stumbling through the woods like it hurt him. The voices weren’t around anymore. What if Nico had imagined it?

Kayla ended up pushing into the clearing first.

“Will!” She screeched, her voice three octaves higher than normal. Nico saw a moment after what she meant.

Across the clearing, propped against one of the thickly woven trees (that could easily have been compared to as walls) was the hunched-over figure of Will. Kayla grabbed Nico’s arm, dragging him across the clearing.

“Hey, Will, Will,” Kayla whispered, holding her hands out in front of herself, her fingertips lightly brushing over Will’s skin. He barely even reacted.

“Will,” Nico said, he could see the small rise and fall of his breaths, he was still alive. He was okay.

A tight feeling in Nico’s gut made him look around. There was no danger that he could see or sense, it only put him on edge more. Nico clenched the hilt of his sword.

“Oh gods,” Kayla whispered, Nico turned back to them. Crouching down in front of Will.

“What? What’s wrong?” Nico asked.

Kayla made a noise from the back of her throat, cupping Will’s cheek, tilting his head up slightly. He blinked tiredly, seemingly just realizing they were there.

“Apollo,” he whispered, his voice sounding nothing like his own, “Apollo.”

“Will, can you sit back?” Kayla asked, pushing Will’s legs down, “please.”

Will leaned his head back against the wood, letting his eyes flutter shut. He relaxed his posture.

Across his gut was a large sword wound, all the way through. His shirt was stained with blood and torn. The skin around the wound was greenish and pussy with infection.

“It’s poison,” Kayla said, “Nico are you able to get him to the infirmary?”

“What?” Nico didn’t realize he was staring at the wound, “okay.”

Will reached out and gripped Nico’s wrist, he tilted his head down briefly to look Nico in the eyes, “Listen, listen,” Will said, his knuckles popped, “Apollo… wrong… gone…”

Will coughed, his blue eyes were glassy. He looked past both Kayla and Nico into the woods. Kayla was humming a hymn now, her hands clasped in front of herself in prayer. 

The wound didn’t seem to be healing any.

“Death,” Will said, pawing at the wound in his stomach. He barely flinched as he dug his nails into the flesh. Nico’s eyes widened. A surge of panic shot through his spine.

“No,” Nico said, “you’re not dying.”

With his other hand, Will patted the trees behind him, he listed forward. 

“Will you’re not going to die,” Kayla said, her voice cracked, she gripped Will’s shoulders, “you’re gonna be okay.”

Will repeated the word over and over, “death.” 

Nico didn’t want to say it. He didn’t even want to accept it. 

Nico grit his teeth, grabbing both Kayla and him, pulling them into the fading shadows as the sun rose higher in the sky.

Trying to aim his landing with two other people, one injured and barely lucid was a lot harder than he remembered. Nico stumbled into Kayla, she gripped her brother’s shoulders.

Will blinked, his eyes wide before his knees gave out and he crumpled to the ground. Kayla stumbled, swaying on her feet. They had made it to the infirmary at least, which was unfortunately empty. 

Kayla hurried 

“There’s some ambrosia left in the cabinet I think, Nico,” Kayla said, opening and closing cupboard doors throughout the infirmary, “try and get him to eat some of it.”

Nico followed her instructions, his hands shaking. Will was the first person that Nico had opened up to in a long time. He couldn’t let him die. Not after Bianca was gone. 

Will was barely conscious, his hands were slick with blood, Nico wasn’t sure that he felt the pain of what was going on. He pulled at the infected skin.

He laughed weakly when Nico tried to feed him the ambrosia. Kayla had returned with nectar and other supplies. She drizzled it over the wound, swallowing thickly. Her hands glowed a soft orange as she tried to heal.

Will panted softly, making small grunts of pain whenever Kayla touched him.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Kayla whispered.

Will laughed again, tears rolling down his face, he waved his fingers weakly in the air. He stared at the ceiling, licking his lips. Blood coated his tongue.

The stench of death hung heavy in the air, holding just above the three of them on the floor. Nico didn’t say any of that out loud. He could see Kayla panicking already.

Nico smoothed some of Will’s hair out of his face, trying to get him to eat some ambrosia again. When that didn’t work, he tried to keep him awake.

“What happened?” Nico asked slowly.

“Whispers,” Will said, his eyes landing on Nico’s face, “Apollo… Apollo.”

Will coughed, crying out in pain as Kayla threaded a needle through his skin.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “you’re gonna be okay Will, just hold on a little longer.”

“Find me? Find me again?” Will asked, his eyes darted back and forth between Kayla and Nico, “bad things. In the woods, the trees… protect it. Find me again.”

Nico clenched his jaw, his throat constricted painfully.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Will muttered. His breathing became labored, “death… find me…”

Kayla’s eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

“Love… love you,” Will said. He laughed, then broke into coughing. He picked at the bandages that Kayla had hastily applied.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Kayla choked, blood was soaking through the bandages, the infection hadn’t died down any. She prayed to her father.

“Will, you’re okay, you’re going to be okay,” she sobbed. 

“Scary?” Will directed this at Nico. Nico shook his head, not trusting his voice to be able to speak.

“Ah,” Will nodded, “find me… him, protect it…”

“Please, gods,” Kayla whispered. 

Nico choked back his own tears, he brushed back Will’s hair from his face. Will smiled weakly, it looked more like a grimace of pain.

“Love you… love you…” he patted Kayla’s knee.

Kayla sobbed openly. Tears ran down Nico’s face.

“It’ll be okay, Will,” Nico said, his voice cracking painfully. Will nodded. 

His fingers stilled, blood pooled on the white tile floors of the infirmary. Kayla sobbed into Will’s chest, her entire body shaking. Nico covered his face with his hands. He didn’t even care to hide his tears.

“What’s going on? I swear there’s a ruckus in here,” the door to the infirmary creaked open, Nico barely recognized Austin’s voice.

“Oh my gods.”

**Author's Note:**

> “What if I made another major character death fic?” It would be fun, I said. Haha funny, I said.
> 
> I hate myself for writing this! I’m sobbing.
> 
> I never give the dude a break do I... 
> 
> It’s also been a while since I read the dark prophecy so I don’t really remember much from the book but I wanted to include some of the details in this. Idk. I had something else to say in my notes but I don’t remember.
> 
> I literally was writing this like “crap this isn’t very emotional” and then I started sobbing, so idk hope this hurt or something idk.


End file.
